The invention relates to an improved construction for collars of the type permanently attached to shirts of the overlapping front panel type. Such collars conventionally include a neckband portion, the lower edge of which is secured to the neck opening of the shirt body, and a top or cape portion secured to or integral with the neckband, which top or cape portion is turned down over the neckband.
Many attempts have been made in the past to provide an outer dress shirt which can be worn also as a sport shirt, as desired. For dress purposes, the ends of the neckband are overlapped and buttoned, or otherwise secured, and the shirt ordinarily worn with a necktie threaded between the neckband and collar cape. In this position, of course, the sides or panels of the shirt body adjacent the front opening lie flatly against the body of the wearer. However, when the shirt is worn with the neckband unfastened, and the upper portions of the front panels immediately adjacent the front opening are turned back to fold over against the shirt body, the results inevitably are unsightly and uncomfortable.
Previous attempts to provide a dual purpose collar have failed to appreciate that the neckband configuration which produces a collar that will fit properly when worn closed and with a necktie will not function properly to serve the same purpose for a collar that is to be worn open for casual wear. The closed collar neckband must ordinarily be of sufficient height at the back so that it will rise above the collar of the wearer's jacket thereby to prevent the jacket collar from rubbing on the wearer's neck. Also, it must have overlapping band ends that stand high enough, in their overlapped position, to accomodate the necktie knot else the knot's bulk will force the wings or point portions of the collar cape to be lifted outwardly and thus create an untidy effect. Also, it must be of sufficient height at the sides to support the cape in an upright position to prevent wrinkling where the cape passes over the shoulders.
The requirements for the neckband of the open collar are quite different. The cape portion of the casual collar must achieve a lower and flatter profile, and the band height must be lower and the cape wider. The cape of the casual collar assumes its best appearance when it splays out from the neck as it crosses over the shoulder and conforms to the slanting plane of the shoulder. To achieve this posture it is necessary that the neckband be constructed so as to provide a reduction in height, from the center of its back portion, in a descending arcuate configuration as it passes over the shoulder so that it comes, approximately, to a zero height when it reaches the chest area. At this point the cape no longer needs the vertical support of the neckband, so the neckband ends are free to roll outward with the turned back edges of the front panels to form a lapel.
It is obvious that a single fold line cannot provide the functional duality required in a convertible collar. Therefore, the present invention has for its main object the provision of a shirt collar having two vertically spaced fold lines wherein the different fold lines will be clearly and positively defined so as effectively to provide two neckband portions, each of a different configuration with the two fold lines residing in the same lining ply.
Prior attempts at solving the problem failed because the constructions thereof did not provide overlapping neckband ends to support the necktie knot, and for other and more obvious reasons. Characteristic of such attempts are the disclosures of such patents as U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,255,362, 2,310,899, 2,344,204, 2,345,764 2,385,729, and 2,433,522. U.S. Pat. No. 2,310,899 does provide overlapping neckband ends to support a necktie knot. However, a fold line guide element is provided having a crest acting to retain the back portion of the collar in its upright position when worn with a necktie. This support patch prevents the collar from assuming a lower back profile which is needed to release the collar cape so that the wings will splay outwardly in a relatively flat plane when the collar is worn open. U.S. Pat. No. 2,344,204 refers to and describes two curved lines, one spaced from the other, but achieves this at the cost of added materials, additional steps in formation, and consequently greatly increased expense. However, even this approach to the problem did not succeed because the fold lines were never sufficiently clearly defined and it was necessary, each time the positions of the collar and shirt front were to be altered from one position to the other, to do so manually in defining the particular fold line desired. Furthermore, without overlapping neckband ends, there is no support at the front of the collar to stabilize the location of the fold line behind the necktie knot.